Method and machine for applying laundry tags



4 Sheets-Sheet l June 22 1926.

D N J.'H. LYNCH METHOD AND MACHINE FDR APPLYING LAUNDRY TAGS Filed Jan. 24, 192s 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 55 y J az June 221,1 1 92611 lJ. H. LYNCH METHOD AND MACHINE FDR APPLYING LAUNDRY TAGS I Filed Jan. 244 1925 lrDvENroR vJune 22, H526. 1,589,476

J. H. LYNCH A METHOD AND MACHINE FOR APPLYING LAUNDRY TAGS FiledrJan. 24, 1925 4 sheets-sheet s vJune 22 1926. 1,589,476

J. H. LYNCH METHOD AND MACHINE FOR APPLYING LAUNDRY TAGS Filed Jan. 24, 1925l 4 Shee'cs-Sheel'I 4 Patented June 22, 1926.

JOSEPH H. LYNCH, OF ASBURY PARK, NEW JERSEY.

METHOD AND MACHINE FOR APPLYING LAUNDRY TAGZS.

Application filed January This invention relates to a method and machine for attaching for identification, metal tags or tokens to pieces of cloth that are to laundered, and to a tag carrier or 5,-` token tally to be used in connection therewith.

The object of the invention is to provide a safe and convenient means of handling the tags to save labor in'applying the tags to the 10A cloth, economize on the time required for doing the same, and insure a more secure attachment of the tag to the cloth. Heretofore, a preferred method has been to have the tags supplied from a pile located in a reservoir attached to the machine, the mechanism of the machine being employed to take one tag at a time from the reservoir, apply it to the cloth. and secure it thereon. Such machines have inherenet objections, Ydue to the difficulty of handling with'mechanism,

tags which are of necessity lacking in simplicity of contour. In my present invention i obviate the necessity of usi-ng a pile of tags by assembling the tags on a tag assembly which may take the form of a iiexible belt, the belt or other form of tag assembly being provided with a separate holder for each tag and being adapted to be applied to the inacliine and to bring the tags to the applying 3Q mechanism on the machine one after the other as the tag assembly is fed forward in the machine.

The invention will be better understood by a detailed description of an embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings', in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the coinplete machine.

Figure 2 is a vertical 1 per part of the machine on Figure l.

Figure 3 is a detail section on the line 3f?, of Figure 6.

Figure i is a longitudinal vertical section iE-i. of the complete machine.

Figuie 5 is a side view and partial section of the upper part of the machine viewed from the reverse direction of Figure 4;.

Figure 6 is a plan view. v

Figure 7 is a horizontal section of the base of the machine on the line fil- 7 of Figure vFigure 8 is a vertical section on the line of Figure 7.

section of the upthe line 2-2 of and Y Figure 13 is a perspective View of one tag 24, 1925. serial iva-4,528. y

Figure 9 is a side elevation of a detail of Y the crank mechanism.

Figure 10 is a top view of the tag. Figurev 11 is a side view of the tag. Figure 12 is a bottom View of the tag;

holder.

Referring to the drawings, the machine comprises a hollow frame 1 having atY itis lower portion ak bracket 2 supporting an electric motor The motor drives through abelt 4 a shaft 5 having a pinion 6 with an elongated face with which is nieshed a gear 7 keyed to a counter shaft 8. The shaft 8 has also secured 0r fastened to it two bevel pinions 9. The shaft 8 is capable of longitudinal motion in its bearings 10 whereby either one of the pinions 9 may be caused to enmesh with bevel wheel 11,v while gears 6 and 7 remain enineshed. The bevel wheel 11 is secured to a crank shaft 12 on the other end of which is acrank disk 13 having a crank pin 14 adapted to travel in a slot 15 of a sliding cross-head 16, by means of which a vertical rod v17 may be made to reciprocate vertically. The shaft 8 is shifted back anduforth toV cause either one or the other of the bevel pinions 9 to engage with the bevelv wheel 11 by means of a lever 18 engaging with a collar 19 at the end of the shaft. The lever 18 is secured to a vertical shaft 20, the upper and lower ends of which are supported by brackets 21 on the frame and has a crank arm 22 Aengaging with the arm 23 of hand lever 24 pivoted in the frame at 25. The operator may by this lever 24 cause one or the other of the pinions to engage with the bevel wheel which will then rotate. However, after traversing approximately 1800 a pin 26 on the bevel wheel engaging with a cam 27 pivoted at 28, throws out of engagement the pinion that'is driving the wheel by means of a piny 29 engagingin a slot on the hub of-the pinion. The use of this device will be described later. The rod 17 has a bracket arm 30, a pin 31 on the end of which engages with a slot in the arm 32 of a bell crank lever pivoted at 33 on the frame, the other arm of the lever S4 having a pin in slotted engagement with a rocker yarm 35 pivoted on a shaft 36 which is journalled in the frame at 37.' A spring actuated pawl 38 pivoted also on the rocker arm 35 makes a step by step engagement with a ratchet wheel 39 which is secured to the shaft 36. The ratchet wheel 39 has six teeth for engagement with the pawl 38 and therefore moves one-sixth of a turn for each back and forth motion of the bell crank 84. The pawl 40 held by spring 41 against the ratchet, prevents any retrograde motion on the part of the ratchet wheel. On the shaft 36 is mounted a hexagonally faced pulley 42. A clutch having a handle 44 is capable of sliding endwise on the shaft and when held toward its inner position by spring 45, causes pins 46 to engage the clutch 43 with the hub of the pulley 42, the clutch being driven positively by means of pin 47 secured to the shaft. Then the clutch is in engagement, each forward motion of the rocker arm 34 to the right in Figure 4, causes the six-sided pulley to ino-ve 60O and at the end of its stroke leaveone of the fiat sides of the hexagon flush with the table surface 48 of the frame of the machine. On the backward stroke, however, of the rocker arm 34 no motion is imparted to the hexagonal pulley and it is during this period of rest that the mechanism for applying the tags comes into operation. The tags are assembled on belts, tag carriers or tag assemblies, one of which is shown at 49 (see Figures 1 and 5) there being a series of holders 50 permanently secured to the belt, for that purpose, the holders being spaced apart a distance equal to the distance from the center of one hexagonal surface to the next. Each belt or carrier is devoted to one particular identification number and only tags having the proper identification number on them are assembled on any one belt. The carrier thus becomes a tally for the tags or tokens belonging to it, showing by the number of tags absent from it or the number remaining on it, the number of that particular group that are being used. Each holder on the carrier is adapted to receive one tag, and the belt, with the tags assembled in the holders, is introduced into the. machine by being slipped onto the pulley where inwardly protruding lugs 51 of the tag holders (see Figures 2 and 13) will engage in slots 52, of which there are two in the middle of each of the hexagonal sides of the pulley 42 while longitudinal crimps 51 fit intov longitudinal grooves in the middle of the pulley faces. In order to insure that the pulley will remain steady during the stamping operation, a spring` actuated lever 53 (see Figure 5) is made to impinge by means of a roller 54 against one edge of the lower side of the pulley to hold the same in such a Way that ratchet wheel 39 will be firmly pressed against pawl 40. The mechanism for applying the tags to the cloth consists of a foot 55 which is pivoted at 56 on au arm 57, which in turn is supported adjust-- ably on the end of a lever 58. 59 are springs for providing a certain amount of yielding on the part of the foot 55 and adjusting screw 60 may be used for varying the elevation of the toe of the foot 55. The lever 58 has a combined up and down and forward and backward motion similar to the feed of a sewing machine. This motion is accomplished by the following mechanism. The rear of the lever 58 has a slot 61 in which a fulcrum pin V62 plays, there being a plunger 63 in a connecting rod 64 pivoted at its lower end to the frame and containing a spring 65 which tends to keepl the heel of the lever 58 in its upper position at the upper end of the slot 61. At 66 is shown a crank pin for operating the lever 58. The pin is carried by a shaft 67 journalled in the frame at 68 and on the other end of the shaft a pinion 69 is secured. Meshing with this pinion is a gear of twice its diameter 70 which is mounted loosely on a shaft 71. Secured to the shaft 71 is a double toothed ratchet 72 engaging with a pawl 73 pivoted on the side of the gear Y 70 and held in spring contact with the ratchet 72 by spring 74. The shaft 71 has two pinions 75 secured to it, which! mesh with the two raek'portions 76 (see Figure 4) that are secured adjustably by screw member 77 to the vertically reciprocating rod 17. The diameter of the pinions 75 is so proportioned to the stroke of the rod 17 that upon a complete down stroke of the latter the pinions will make one-half of a revolution and will, consequently, through ratchet 7 2 and pawl 73, cause the gear 70 to make one-half a revolution, which will result in one complete revolution of the pinion 69 and the crank .66, During` the return stroke of the rod 17, the pawl 73 will slip backward over the ratchet 72 and no motion of the crank will take place, the crank being held at this time in the steady position of rest, by means of a pawl 78 (see Figure 4) acting against a one toothed ratchet disk 79 on the crank shaft, the pawl being l spring-pressed pin 80. therefore, that when the reciprocating rod 17 makes its down stroke, which corresponds to the idle period of the belt operating mechanism, the crank pin 66 will carry the foot 55 first downward, then forward, then upward and then backward.y In performing these motions, the foot 55 will be brought to bear down upon the top of the tag, which is then resting on the top of the hexagonal pulley and engaging behind a boss 81 provided on the top of each tag (see Figures 10 and 11) will first press the upper part of the hinged tag downward, thus closing the same upon the goods,

It will be seen,

held to its position by.

and thenbyits forward motion pushing it against the boss81 to cause the locking slide 82 to move forward until the lips 83 of the slide engage under the locking flanges 84: that form part of the lower member of the tag. lhen the foot 55 has closed the tag onto the cloth, it can, of course, not descend any furthei and to accommodate the further movement of the crank 66 is the object of the slot (il and yielding spring abutment 63 at the .heel of the lever 58. After the tag has been thus applied the foot continues its motion and rises free of the tag; VThe tag consists of an upper and lower member spring-hinged together at onek end and the locking slide is mounted slidably upon the upper member. Each tag has stamped or imprinted upon'it an identification number'. To hold the tag in position on the belt, the tag holders have a bent-over portion 85 (see Figure 5) whichy engages with a hole 86 inthe tag. This hole is in both the slide and the upper and lower members of the tag and the poi'- tion 85 of the holder that is bent over to hold thev tag is 'rounded so that the tag majT be easily slipped in under it and also that the sliding member maybe slipped out from under it when the tag is fastened to the goods. The tag itself is securely held in place both sidewise and endwise by lips 87 on the tag holders (see Figure 13) the end lip serving also as an abutment to hold the tag against the endwise thrust of the presser foot 55.

In order to insure that the edge of the cloth will be inserted just the right distance in between the jaws of the tag, I provide stops 88 on each side of the presser foot 55, the forward end of these stops being curved upward to facilitate the insertion of the edge of the cloth and the mid-length of the stops having an edge formed by the foot of the stop, said edge being exactly in line with the center of the pulley and, therefore, coresponding to the inner limit of the gripping part of the tag. To facilitate thek introduction and withdrawal of the tag holding belt part of one side of the table, as shown Aat 89, is made of a separate piece hinged as shown at 90 (see Figures 5 and 6). This part of the table can thus be swung out of the way to put on or take 0H a belt. A rod or bracket 91 extending from the reciprocating part 30 serves to actuate a counter mechanism 92 to register the num- Vvber of articles tagged.

The operation of the machine is as follows:

It will be understood that there will be furnished with each machine a number of the tag carriers, each carrier as well as the tags carried by it having one identification number. one belt for each'batchof laundry requiring There will then be selected4 a given identification having assembled on it laundry tags, one tag` being held by each holder on the belt. Such a belt being slipped over the hexagonal pulley, the hinged por-- tion 89 being swung for that purpose, and an edge of the cloth being slipped iii between tlie jaws of the tag until the said edge rests against the stops 88, the'opei'ator, pressing on leverk 24 with his linger, will throw one of the pinions 9 into engagement with the bevel wheel ll whereupon. the presser Vfoot 55 will be caused to move down onto the tag, )ressing the two jaws of the same together and then by a' forward movemenththe said presser foot engaging with the boss 8l on the tag, will push the locking slide forward until the lips 88 of the same engages under the flanges 84 of 'the lower jaw, Ythus securely locking the tag on the cloth The tag is prevented from movingforward under this pushing action yby being' held against stop l87 of the tag holder. The presser foot then moves up ont of the way and as the spring has now been taken out of the tag, the said spring action of the hinge of the tag having thus far ,securely held the tag in position on the tagholdei by virtue of the upward pressure lof the upper member of the tag against the overhanging arm 85 of the tag holder, the cloth may be freely withdrawn with its tag. When the ypresser foot has thus vbeen lifted out of the way, the pinion 9 that was in engagement with the bevel wheel 1l will be thrown out of engagement by the pin 26.

striking the cam 27. The operator may then, by moving the lever 24 in the opposite direction, cause the other pinion to engage with the bevel wheel 11. It should be noticed here that should the operator' try to repeat the former operation at this point to rev-engage the pinion that was just forced out of operation, he will be unable to accomplish it because the bevel wheel 11 having come to rest with the pin 26 against the cam 27 the pinion that was in engagement cannot again be put into mesh. Moving the lever in the opposite direction, however, brings the other pinion 9 into engagement with the bevel wheel 11 and thus causes a reverse movement of the connecting rod 17, the rod in this case moving upward instead ofr downward, the result of which is to turn f liVhen all the articles of a given identification have been thus tagged, the belt i9 may he removed and set aside and contains itself a record of the number of pieces that have gone into the laundry with this identification. lVhen the tags are to be removed from the goods, they are easilyslipped off by hand, by sliding back the locking plate 82 and they may be at the same time reA placed one by one m their proper belt. n,

clutch Ll?) is provide for the purpose of enabling the egxerator to discoin'iect the hexagonal pull-ey from the rest of the mechanism when it may he moved back or forth one or more steps in case the right part of the carrier belt is not presented to the presser foot. l

llfhile I have shown a particular embodiment of my invention in what has proved to he a successful method and machine, l do not .vish to be limited in my claims to the spe flic devices herein illustrated and described. ln the tag holding belt have pro vided a token-tally, which keeps a record of the articles, and While l have slioivn 1 this in the form of a belt to be operated over a polygonal pulley, it may take other forms and he used in other Ways'.

lill

l. The method of applying tags to goods which comprises, assembling the tags on individual tag holders on a tag carrier, applying the goods to be identified to the tags while the tags are on the holders, clamping the tags on the goods and then removing the goods with the tags from the tag holders, whereby the tag carrier becomes a tally of the number of tags used and a keeper for the tags When not in use.

2. ln a system ,for utilizing identification tags for different batches of goods, the methodu comprising assembling the tags on individual tag holders on a carrier, placing the carrier in a tag` applying machine, causing the machine to apply the goods of one batch to the tags in seriatim, removing the carrier from the machine, and subsequently removing the tags from the goods and replacing them on the carrier.

3'. The method of applying tags to goods Which comprises. assembling the tags on indivi dual tag holders on flexible carriers, applyingI the tag carriers one at a time to a tag` afiixing machine., moving` the tag carrier step by stepA to bring' one holder with its tag to a tag` aftixing point applying the goods to be identified to the tags on the holder, and clamping the tags on the goods by an intermittent operation alternating' With the step by step carrier feeding operation.

The combination with a tag applying machine of a carrier havinga series of holders secured at regular intervals thereon, means en the machine for feeding the carrier one tag holder at a time, means acting alternately to the feeding. means to close the tags and loclr the same, and means on the tag holder for holding the tag from displacement on the holder during the closing of the tag.

5. rl`h-e combination With a tag applying machine of a tag carrier having a series of tag holders secured at regular intervals thereon means on the machine for feeding the carrier one holder at a time, means acting alternately tothe feeding means to close the tags and lock the same, Vmeans for holding the tag holder from displacement on the feeding means, and means on the tag holder for holding the tagfrom displacement on the holder during the closing of the tag.

6. In a machine for applying identification tags to goods, the combination com` prising a power means, a tag carrier having secured at regular intervals a series of tag holders, means for feeding the carrier intermittently, means acting alternately to said feeding means for applying tags held in the holder to the goods, and mamial means for alternately engaging the feeding anclapplying means with the power means.

alternately to said feeding means for apply-r ing the tags te the goods, means manually controlled for connecting alternately the feeding and applying means to the motive power, automatic means for disconnecting such connecting means, and other means'for 4, in machine for' applying identifical ll) preventing` the reconnecting of the means last disconnected.

9. The combination with a tag applying machine of a flexible tag carrier having ak es of tag holders secured to itat regular intervals. a polygonal pulley for sulaporting and feeding the carrier, the flat faces of the pulley corresponding in length with the said intervals, means for turning the pulley to' bring one face at a time to a tag applying point, and means acting alternately tov said turning means for closing the tag located at the tag applying point.

l0. The combination with a tag applying machine olf av f'exible carrier having a series of tag holders secured to it at regular intervals. Y a polygonal pulley for supporting and feeding the carrier, the flat faces of the pulley corresponding in length With the said intervals, means for turning the pulley to bring one face at av time to a tag applying point, means for holding the pulley fixed when so turned, and means acting alternately to said turning means for closing the tag located at the tag applying point.

il. The combination With a tag applying machine of a flexible tag carrier having a series of tag holders secured to it at regular intervals, a polygonal pulley for supporting and feeding the carrier, the 'flat faces of the pulley corresponding in length with the said intervals, means for holding the tag hol lere in fixed position on the pulley, means for turning' the pulley to bring one face at a time to a tag applying point, means for holding the pulley .lixed when so turned, and i'i'ieans acti ng alternately to said turning ine-ans for closing the tag located at the tag applying' point.

l2. The combination with a tag` applying u'iachine of a flexible tagV carrier having a series of holders secured to it at'regular intervals, a polygonal pulley for supporting and feeding the carrier, the Hat faces of the pulley corresponding in length with the said intervals, means for holding the tag holders in fixed position both laterally and longitudinally on the pulley, means for turning the pulley to bring one face at a time to a tag applying point, means for holding the pulley fixed when so turned, and means acting alternately to said turning means for closing the tag located at the tag applying point.

18. The combination with a tag applying machine of a flexible tag carrier having a series of tag holders secured to it at regular intervals, a polygonal pulley for supporting and feeding the carrier, the flat faces of the pulley' corresponding in length with the said intervals, means for turning the pulley to bring one face at a time to a tag applying point, and pawl and ratchet driving means for Valternately actuating the feeding pulley and the applying means.

lll. A portable tag carrier made of a flexible band and having a series of tag holders permanently secured thereto at regular intervals, and means on each holder for resiliently holding the tags in place on the holder.

l5. A portable flexible tag carrier having a vseries of tag holders permanently secured thereto at regular intervals, means on each holder for resiliently holding the ,tags

against the holder, and means also on each holder for preventing longitudinal displacenient.

i6. A portable flexible tag carrier having a series of tag holders permanently secured Y thereto at regular intervals, with Vmeans on the carrier on the reverse side from the tag holders for positively engaging said carrier with a propelling mechanism.

JOSEPH H. LYNCH. 

